Opinion: For Elon Musk, it’s good to be the king

But the rest of us have to endure his insufferable praise on the grandest scale

By

MarekFuchs

Columnist

Tesla’s Elon Musk apparently is a ‘genius’ on the ‘grandest quest ever concocted,’ according to a new biography.

“He’s the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted” — a new book on Tesla’s Elon Musk

“Sometimes you just have to believe” — Jim Cramer on AOL

“L’Etat, c’est moi” — Louis XIV on himself

Welcome to Wall Street — and pre-revolutionary France — where knee-buckling narcissism defines all. Over history, and across Wall Street this very week, narcissism stands as a burden the size of a baby grand. Actually, let’s skip pretence and drop the baby.

On Wall Street, flouting ego is a grand problem.

Here’s the deal, though, and it’s especially important to realize this week, another in which heaving waves of ego hit Wall Street: Though Wall Street obviously never suffers modesty lightly, its narcissism comes in three distinct forms. To really get a grip on narcissism, and, by extension, Wall Street, you have to understand flouting ego in all its complex hues.

So with all due modesty, let me tell you exactly how it is:

Stage 1 Wall Street Narcissism

This stage of narcissism is also known as the “sometimes you just have to believe” stage. Wall Street is a place where people get paid, often vast sums, for their thoughts and opinions. That’s a setup for disaster. When people are right once, they tend to feel invincible. They also start to mistake a lucky hunch for the discovery of a new pattern in the universe.

Which brings us to Jim Cramer.

Put Cramer’s week on the shelf for a quick moment, though. I need to throw down a qualifier. I used to work for the guy and think my old boss man did the public a good by serving as the first legitimate trader to distill the complexities, intricacies and inanities of Wall Street to an understandable level.

Like any trader, too, Cramer can take a stand. Any time you pan for gold in life, you need the power of your convictions. On Monday, AOL
US:AOL
which Cramer likes, reported decent results. Tuesday, though, saw a big downgrade, just before a big takeover offer from Verizon
VZ, +0.70%

Opined Cramer: “Sometimes you just have to believe.”

Little is worse in life than a bad piece advice that works once. Cramer was right, but he was also bailed out by a lucky takeover. Does that mean success in life is always as simple as holding on to your inner belief? When you let faith ripen on a vine, it tends to become fanaticism, which leads to the notion that you have the way of the world figured out. That’s known as Stage 1 Wall Street Narcissism.

Stage 2 Wall Street Narcissism

Tesla
TSLA, -0.06%
is struggling to make and sell a suitable number of cars, but Elon Musk is busy putting men on the moon and a battery in every home. He doesn’t lack for confidence, which creates a wider cult of worship that makes others take leave of their senses. A new biography set for release next week — “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” — contained passages so full of praise that Musk’s own mother might find it overblown. Calling him a “genius” on the “grandest quest ever concocted” defines overstatement. It’s not like the guy is trying to turn around the Knicks. In all seriousness, this sort of development is often a sign that narcissism has spread: One person thinking he has the universe figured out has led to hagiography. It’s spreading. That’s known as Stage 2 Wall Street Narcissism.

Stage 3 Wall Street Narcissism

The third and final stage of involves a state of pure delusion. When Louis XIV declared that there was no discernible difference between himself and France, you know the dude was screwy with narcissism. This goes beyond thinking we have the world figured out:

This is — we are the world.

There comes a time in each market cycle when narcissism spreads to such a degree that good results for all seem inevitable. Gravitational pull no longer exists. Notions that defy reason — a man is a state or “it’s different this time” — get chokeholds on better judgment and the market crashes in on itself. That’s known as Stage 3 Narcissism. It comes at the top of every market.

We’re not there yet. But it’s pretty evident that we’re deep into Stage 2 Narcissism. Don’t believe me? Sometimes you just have to.

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